Bet

Characters: Heart Pirates, Ikkaku, Law. Ratings: K. Warnings: None

The Heart Pirates didn't get to relax all that much, not with the ever-present threat of Doflamingo hanging over them like a dark shadow no matter how deep they dived, but it was impossible for them to remain wound up the entire time. Card games was, and would always be, their favourite crew-wide downtime activity, so with the exception of Jean Bart, who opted to sit out to stay in the control room, and Bepo, who struggled to hold cards anyway, the entire crew found themselves piling into the recreation room to play a round, or several, of poker.

Poker was hardly poker without bets, and they didn't play for money but there were always other things. A night watch, which ended up Uni's after a particularly bad hand for the tall man; laundry duty, which their main engineer gained when his bluff didn't work. The game was long, and after an hour or so they began to run out of things to bet, but they were reluctant to stop the game.

"Change to strip poker?" was suggested, and several hands shot out to grab hold of their captain's hoodie as he attempted to beat a hasty retreat.

The suggestion was vetoed by Ikkaku, who crossed her arms firmly.

"Some things are better left unseen," she pointed out, and Law settled back into the circle. He regretted it a moment later when, with a grin that could only be described as evil, she produced an empty rum bottle from… somewhere. No-one was quite sure where. "Loser has to play spin the bottle," she smirked, placing it in the centre of the circle. "Objections, boys?"

If there were any, no-one voiced them and the next hand was dealt. In some sort of twisted karma, Ikkaku was the loser and she reached for the bottle with a laugh. One spin, fast and furious, and it finally drew to a halt pointing to the cook. The man blinked, staring at the bottle and then at the advancing Ikkaku in bemused disbelief as the rest of the crew started to chant, drumming on the floor with their fists. The kiss landed on the corner of his mouth, and he chuckled as she moved back to the sound of pleased cheers.

The next round had Shachi the undisputed loser, and with a sigh he reached out to spin the bottle himself, only to laugh as it landed on Penguin. The two looked at each other for a moment as the background chanting started up again, before they shrugged helplessly and Shachi lurched forward to press his lips firmly on the other man's, to jovial wolf whistles and laughter from the rest of the crew.

For many rounds, Law was spared the bottle, playing well enough (and with enough luck on his side) to not lose, and never finding himself at the receiving end of the bottle. It didn't last forever, and as the captain stared down the neck of the bottle, which was pointing at him accusingly, he half-heartedly attempted to hide his cards and pretend he wasn't part of the game. It failed miserably, and his nakama leaned over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. The rest of the crew released 'awwing' noises before dealing the next round.

Bepo watched them all from his place behind Law, serving his captain's backrest as he was wont to do whenever the pair of them had downtime, before deciding he'd had enough of being left out. He couldn't really hold the cards, nor was he particularly interested in the game itself, so he forwent all of the stages and extracted himself from behind Law before pouncing on the crew to a cacophony of startled noises.

No-one escaped the sudden cuddle prison until everyone had been well and truly licked and nuzzled by the mink. And of course, they all had to nuzzle him back. The cards were scattered by the movement, but no-one bothered to pick them up as the game was forgotten.

It's been a while since I did a crew-wide one, so have a happy poker night with the crew being lovable idiots.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari